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STS-8 was the eighth NASA Space Shuttle mission and the third flight of the Space Shuttle ''Challenger''. It launched on August 30, 1983 and landed on September 5, conducting the first night launch and night landing of the Space Shuttle program. It also carried the first African-American astronaut, Guion Bluford. The mission successfully achieved all of its planned research objectives, but was marred by the subsequent discovery that a solid-fuel rocket booster had almost malfunctioned catastrophically during the launch. The mission's primary payload was INSAT-1B, an Indian communications and weather observation satellite, which was released by the orbiter and boosted into a geostationary orbit. The secondary payload, replacing a delayed NASA communications satellite, was a four-metric-ton dummy payload, intended to test the use of the shuttle's "Canadarm" remote manipulator system. Scientific experiments carried onboard ''Challenger'' included the environmental testing of new hardware and materials designed for future spacecraft, the study of biological materials in electric fields under microgravity, and research into space adaptation syndrome (also known as "space sickness"). The flight furthermore served as shakedown testing for the previously launched TDRS-1 satellite, which would be required to support the subsequent STS-9 mission. ==Crew== This mission had a crew of five, with three mission specialists. It was the second mission (after STS-7) to fly with a crew of five, the largest carried by a single spacecraft up to that date.〔Jenkins, p. 271〕 The crew was historically notable for the participation of Guion "Guy" Bluford, who became the first African-American to fly in space.〔Jenkins, p. 271. An African-American test pilot, Robert Henry Lawrence, Jr., had been selected for the US Air Force Manned Orbiting Laboratory program in 1967, but was killed in a flying accident a few months later. The Manned Orbiting Laboratory program was cancelled in 1969, and most of its surviving astronauts transferred to NASA. Outside the United States, Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez was a Cuban Air Force officer who flew on the Soyuz 38 mission in 1980 as part of the Soviet Intercosmos program, and became the first person of African descent in space.〕 The commander, Truly, was the only veteran astronaut of the crew, having flown as the pilot on STS-2 in 1981 and for two of the Approach and Landing Tests aboard ''Enterprise'' in 1977. Prior to this, he had worked as a capsule communicator for all three Skylab missions and the Apollo-Soyuz mission.〔Press kit, p. 47〕 Brandenstein, Gardner and Bluford had all been recruited in 1978, and been training for a mission since 1979.〔Press kit, pp. 48–50〕 The mission had originally been planned for a crew of four, with Thornton added to the crew as a third mission specialist in December 1982, eight months after the crew was originally named.〔Evans, p. 76〕 As with Truly, he was an Apollo-era recruit, having joined NASA in 1967.〔Press kit, p. 51〕 His participation on the mission included a series of tests aimed at gathering information on the physiological changes linked with Space Adaptation Syndrome, more commonly known as "space sickness"; this had become a focus of attention in NASA, as astronauts succumbed to it during Shuttle missions.〔 The orbiter carried two EMUs for use in case of an emergency spacewalk; if needed, they would be used by Truly and Gardner.〔''STS-8 Press Information'', p. 61〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「STS-8」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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